Youths in Ondo State, on Wednesday, turned out on the streets of Akure, the state capital to commemorate the one year anniversary of the end police brutality campaign in the country.
The youths, who converged on Post Office junction along the popular Oba Adesida road embarked on a candlelight procession through the A-Division axis to NEPA roundabout in honour of the youths who were purportedly killed by security forces during the October 20, 2020 protest.
Chanting various solidarity songs, the protesters who were decked in black attires took off from the NEPA roundabout where they disrupted traffic flow for a few minutes before heading to the state headquarters of the Nigeria Police where they submitted their demands to the Commissioner of Police, Bolaji Salami.
Addressing journalists, Tope Temokun, the leader of the protesters, stated that the issues which led to the massive protest a year ago were still much around.
According to him, no police personnel or government official had been brought to book despite the assurances that were given last year.
Temokun, a legal practitioner and rights activist also decried the non-implementation of the recommendations of the End SAR panel by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
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He said “Our government has been feeding us with lies over the years. Our coming out today, after a year of the protest to end brutality in Nigeria both from the police and the government is to remind the government that we need only one thing from them and that is truth.
“We came out in October 2020 to protest against the brutality of the police and the government in this country. They asked us to go back home, they told us we were going to get justice, they told us we were going to get the truth, they told us we are going to get redress, they told us that our people are going to get compensation.
“We went before the panel, we ventilated our grievances, after one year we are still in the street. What we are witnessing today is brutality in a more ferocious manner both from the police and from our government. We have submitted a petition to the government of Governor Akeredolu to implement the recommendations of the End SARS panel that was put in place to address the grievances of Nigerian citizens.
“What we protested against are back in the streets. The police are back in the street. They are not after armed robbers, they are not after bandits, they are not after kidnappers but they are after Nigerian youths. They want to search laptops, they want to search phones, they want to monitor conversations, they want you to transfer money from your account to their account.
“We are saying that the brutality has not ended. We are saying the more you continue to give us this kind of treatment, we will not be tired to protest against you. When we leave this place today, it is just to remind our government and the police that we are not tired of standing up to challenge all these forms of injustice.
“We have our agenda and our agenda is clearly defined and we cannot be distracted. We have a clear cut agenda.
“We are here today in commemoration of our slain heroes and to tell the government that nothing has changed, and we will continue to fight against all forms of injustice and we will continue to fight against all forms of police brutality. We will continue to ask questions and demand justice from the police and government.
The Commissioner of Police, Bolaji Salami, while receiving the protesters at the command headquarters, however, commended them for their peaceful conduct and disclosed that all their grievances would be a table before the state government.
